Objectives of the project

Santander Group is the eleventh largest bank in the world in terms of market capitalization, at EUR 88 billion. Globally, the company has some 193,000 employees and more than 117 million customers to look after. Its central software unit, ISBAN (Ingeniería de Software Bancario), is part of the Technology and Operations division of the Group.

In December 2012, ISBAN was faced with an unplanned issue. The group’s software for consolidation, prudential and regulatory reporting, and reporting of accounting and risk information was being withdrawn by its supplier, who had given only a 12-month grace period for its replacement.

Santander therefore needed to work with an organization that could both meet its complex IT needs and provide expertise in banking regulation. Last but not least, the timeframes were tight, both in terms of deployment and the six-week reporting window within which the changeover could take place.

What BearingPoint did

An overall process and architecture were defined collaboratively between ISBAN and Santander business units.

The next step was to create a central data repository, using this as a hub to integrate bank, consumer finance and consumer leasing data from a wide variety of sources and systems.

In parallel with populating the database with existing information, consultants addressed the challenge of understanding the broader requirements coming from across the group.

Given complex information requirements, consultants needed to bring an unusual mix of IT, business and legal skills to bear – not least supporting the Regulatory Information department in understanding European regulations, such as the CRR (Capital Requirements Regulation) / CRD IV (Capital Requirements Directive).

The final challenge was the change-over, which needed to take place within a limited time-frame. This involved keeping a clear head during integration, live testing, deployment, and the decommissioning of the existing software once all parties were satisfied the requirements had been met.

Key success factors

The proven ABACUS/DaVinci platform and the spirit of collaboration aimed at meeting an organization’s business goals led the project to great success.

When we engaged with BearingPoint, we knew from experience just how important it was to develop a spirit of collaboration, backed by deep technical competence and the right tools. Overall the result has been highly successful. BearingPoint were trustworthy, productive and above all effective, illustrating the importance of developing peer relationships with consulting firms with whom we are work at a strategic level.